Cable joint



1,628 438 May 10. 1927 D, M. SIMONS /Nvfron D. M.l slMoNs May 10, 1927.

CABLE JOI NT 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 5, 1925 Patented May 10, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE.

DONALD M. SIMONS, 0F OSBORNE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD UNDER- GROUND CABLE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

CABLE JOINT.

Application led January 3, 1925. Serial No. 358.

My invention relates .to improvements in joints for electric cables, and consist in a structural provision whereby, other things being equal, the resistance to breakdown stress is increased, and, l proportionately', a cable whose joints are built according to my invention is capable of carrying a curi-ent of higher voltage.

` The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Fig. I is a ,view in mediall and longitudinal section of the joint of a single-conductor cablein the structure of which my invention isembodied. Figs. II .and -III illustrate in section and on the same plane, but to larger scale and diagrammatically, ,various modifications in the featurein which my invention resides, and in the mode of its application.` Fig. IV illustrates in Alongitudinal and medial section :i permissible'variationin structure. Fig. V is a viewsimilar to Fig. I, illustrating the invention in its ap lieation toa multiple-conductor cable, an' Fig. VI is a view similar.

to Fig. I, and illustrating a further modification.

In. Letters Patent of the United States No.-'888,674, granted -Ma 26, 1908, on the application of Francis Viele, a cablejoint is shown and describedin which a sleeve ofV solid insulating material surrounds the actual :union of the conductors, and bridges the interval at which in the finished joint the cut-away ends of the machine-laid cableinsulation stand apart. A casing encloses -the whole, and the spaces areA filled with insulation, applied in liquid form. Joints. of this type or character have been and are widely used,'and it is to them that my invention is applicable.

Fig. I' hows. a. omt in wliichthe bared conductors are united by the connector L ordinarily a sleeve of copper with rounded ed es; syveated with solder to electrical union with the conductor ends. A sleeve of solid insulation 3 surrounds the union, and bridges the interval at which the cutaway cnds 11 of the cable insulation stand apart. A' joint. casing 2 ,encloses the whole, being at its end united in usual manner to the cable sheath. "All of the space within the casing 2 and surrounding the united cable ends is filled with insulation of one sort or another, but for my present purposes it will sufiice to remark tliat. the sleeve 3 of solid insulation occupies the position shown and already described, coaxial with the cable ends, and that ultimately, whether there be additional bodies of solid material built into the structure or no, all the space ivitliinthe casing is flushed and filled with insulating compound, introduced in liquid condition'. Filling holes are indica-ted at 21,.

which are when the joint is completed, closed with caps soldered to place.

The purpose of the sleeve 3 arranged as illustrated in Fig. I is to prevent direct puncture between the connector l and the opposite portion of the joint casing 2. In the' present state of the art it is quite possible to obtain tubes of suflicient dielectric strength. to constitute a screen and to prevent direct puncture from' the connector 1 to casing 2. The Weakest point in such a joint (lacking the feature of my invention) is that indicated by the dotted line a, from conneetor l, around the end of Atube 3, to the joint casing 2.` In consequence of the presence of this weakest point, the artl has not in factemployed sleeves such as 3- of; greatest -available strength. There has been no object in so doing, for even tubes of less strength afford greater strength to revnt direct A'punctures lthan the structure ot erwise possesses, to prevent puncturealong the devious course around the vend ofthe sleeve, indicated above.` The critical point in voltage rise, at which arcing around the end of tube 3 begins, may by lengthening the tube beA raised somewhat, and some improvement may be had by increasing the diameter of the joint casing, but neither of these expedients can within the limitations imposed byV circumstances afford any very great improvement.

0 I have found, and herein lies my invention, that if the tube 3 be overlaid over the 'medial portion of its extent. with a sleeve of metal (which covering is grounded), leaving the ends of the sleeve free of such covering, then the tendency 'to flashing around the end of the tube is reduced and the Weak point mentioned above is eliminated from the structure. In Fig. I, I show at 4 such an overlaid sleeve of metal, and I indicate diagrammatically, at 5 a wire connecting with the casing 2, by which the metallic sleeve 4 may be grounded.

The presence ot this metal sleeve 4 necessarily etiects concentration ol' stress between the connector 1 and vthe sleeve itself (and in so doing relieves the stresses tending to lashover, around the ends of the sleeve 25), but, as has already been intimated, it. is entirely possible to obtain tubes 4of :insulation of sufficient strength to resist such roncentrated stress. By this expedient then, the joint is rendered stronger to resist. breakdown, and the serviceabllity of the inst-allation in which my improved joint is eniplayed ,is increased accordingly.

In order to dissipate the stress which otherwise would be concentrated at the ends of the metallic sleeve 4, tendingto cause breakdown of the tube 3 itself, I preferably round, and (if the sleeve be thin, as ordinarily it will bc) enlarge its edges, as indicated @at 6, Fig. I.

The 'sleeve 3 may be made -of any suitable material, o which there is a. variety known to the art, and ma be formed Aby appropriate method. For instance, it may be molded, of such a massive material as bakelite; again, it maybe built .of spirally wrapped paper, impregnated with a suitable oily or resinous .substance,a nd the metallic overlaid sleeve may be Vrigid 'and self-Sustaininv or it may `he ormed of foil, wrapped ulion tube 3. I n structures intended for highvoltage work, itmaiy be .desirable that the sleeve '4, .and particularly its edges, be embedded in insulation .0.-f 'high dielectric strength. Theseconsideraiipls lead to the development of 'variousways o applying thefmvention., -For instance, an Fig.

fil)

of paper insulation. Thfat same idea I may adopt-'in building a niet-:d sleeve-,and partimlarly a round-ended, metalv sleeve upon the sleeve 3f This is illustrated in Fig. Ill,

where a sleeve 6 o'f 'wrappedfonmateriafis shown,' env'eloping sleeve 3. A Thesleeve 3 may orrnay not be forxn'ejd of wrapped paper. I 'f it -be so formed, 'the additional wrap 6 may -or niay not be formed `in continuous wel with it. The web of which 'the wrapped-on body .6 isformed, is a web of suitable ma teial. such as aper,.and*bears a strip or metal foil, so disposed that when 'the wrap has been made the sleeve 4 "is built up. The terminal enlargements (if present) of the sleeve 4 will then be built up of successive strata of foil, and, even though the strata be separated by intervening strata of paper, still the structure will `in .effect bethat of a continuous metal body. These alternative suggestions concerning the forn'iation of. the sleeve 4 do not exhaust the ways -in which my invention may actually :be carr-ied into practice. All that `is requisite iisia sleeve of conducting material lnedially overlying the sluwe Il, or the effective pnl't nf llu4 limly of sleeve 3.

The sleeve 4 may he grounded in any con rcnient manner. I have already alluded -to the showing of Fig. I in this regard: A single wire 5 leads from the sleeve 4. This wire is carried through a holel cut for the purpose in the joint casing 2. The wire is soldered to the casing. and th'e hole is then capped and the cap is soldered to place.. ililanit'estly, if instead of -the wire 5 the sleeve 1l carried a spring of conducting ma.- terial, and the resilience were effective, to press the. spring,r at its outer end into contact with the inner surface of the sleeve, the desired :grounding would b e effected.

An alternative arrangement is shown in Fig, IV, wherea semi-cylindrical half 22 of a joint casing is shown carrying, electrically united with itself, a half-sleeve 41. When assembly is made of two such halves, upon a union surrounded by an insulating sleeve 3,.the essential assembly. o I results.

In the .embodiment ofthe invention particularly shown in Fig. II the grounding wire 5 will advantageously be' united with the sleeve 4, before the sleeve is'inolded'with'- in the body 3 of bakelite. In the embodi ment shown .in Eig. lprovision for rounding the body 4 'maybe made, `either during 'the wrapping on of the 6, or subsequently. A grounding Alead is diagrammatically 4indicated in this `figure by 5.

In the modification illustrated in F-ig. VTI, 'the member 4 of I, as a separate part. is dispensed with. The Ajointcasing 2v is .itself caused to serve the ends already described,'.'by" a reduction in its diameter -opposite the middle portion 'ott the ex-tent: -o

tube 3 in 'the assembly. Thediametcr ofthe casing 2* is so f ar reduced Aasto bring about 2 and sleeve 3 will ordinarily he made in the factory-and these two parts so assembled will in the field be applied as a unit. The showing of F ig. I'V suggests another Aarrangement., namely this, tha-t the casing' .the desired eoarent-ration of stress asbetween of Fig. Vl. may be made as a longitudinally divided, two-part casing. The working out of this suggestion needs no illustration, but will be manifest to the engineer, on comparing Figs. IV and VI. The ends of the casing 2a will be united with the cut-away ends of the cable sheath in the manner well known to the art.

It will be perceived that, electrically considered, the annulus 4 (4l) of Figs. I-IV, grounded as it is to casing 2 (22), is no less a part of the casing than is the waist-like constriction of the casing 2a, )articularly shown in Fig. VI. This common charaifteristic is defined in general terms in the broader ones of the ensuing claims.

As already I have intimated, the connector l may be immediately inclosed in a body of wrapped-on insulation, applied in the field, which wrapped-on body will in turn be enclosed in the tube 3, brought to place around it. And so in other details the insulating material within the casing 2 may be such as is preferred, and as the circumstances indicate and the art recognizes.

Fig. V shows the invention in application to the joint of a multiple-conductor cable. Here each of the three unions is shown to be surrounded by a sleeve 3 of solid insulating material, arranged as already described with reference to Fig. I, and the assembly of three is then surrounded by a larger outer all-sur rounding sleeve 30 of like material. Either the inner sleeves 3 or the outer sleeve 30 or both the inner and the outer sleeves may carry upon the outside a sleeve of conducting material, enveloping the sleeve medially of its length, but not extending to the ends. Preferably only the outer sleeve 30 will be so belted, as indicated at 34, and of course this belt 34 will be grounded, in such manner as already described, and may at its edges be provided with a bead-formed and roundssurfaced enlargement, all this in the manner and for the purposes already described in connection with the single-conductor structure. If the three inner sleeves 3 of the joint of Fig. V were provided with the metal sleeves of my invention, those metal sleeves would be grounded, by carrying a suitable conductor from each of them, through the outer sleeve 30 (if present) to the joint cas- In a multiple-conductor structure the inr ner sleeves 3 may be dispensed with, and the sleeve 30 only retained, or the sleeves 3 may be retained and the sleeve 3() dispensed with. In either case, my invention is applicable to the sleeve retained.

I have throughout shown and spoken of the sleeve 3 (30) as an integral, truly cylindrical sleeve. Various modiiications in the shape of this structure are known to the art; as, for instance, sleeves split longitudinally, and so made up of a number of component parts, and sleeves of special shape, formed of interlocking components, and the like. In any case, however, the sleeve retains its essential character of a barrier to electrostatic breakdown. It is formed of solid insulating material, and it entirely surrounds the bared and joined conductor-ends. It will be understood that my invention is applicable and may be enjoyed, wherever such a barrier is found.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a joint for an electric cable the combination of two cable ends with sheath cut away to a greater and insulation cut away to a less distance, and with bared conductor ends electrically united, a sleeve of solid in sulating material surrounding the union and spared at an insulating interval from the union and bridging the gap between the cut away ends of cable insulation, and a casing enclosing the whole. the structure including' a grounded annulusI of metal surrounding the .said sleeve of insulating material throughout the mid-portion of its longitudinal extent, and surrounding such mld-por tion at a narrower interval than that at which the casing surrounds the end portions of the said sleeve.

Q. In a joint for a multiple-conductor electric cable the combination with the individually connected pairs of conductor ends, a sleeve of solid insulating material spaced at insulating intervals from and surrounding all the unions and bridging all the gaps between the cut away ends of cable insulation, and a casing enclosing the Whole, the structure including a grounded annulus of metal surrounding said sleeve of insulating material throughout the mid-portion of its longitudinal extent, and surrounding such inid-portion at a narrower interval than that at which the casing surrounds tbe end portions of the said sleeve.

3. In a joint structure For an electric cable the combination of two cable ends with sheath and insulation cut away and oonductor ends brought into electric union, a sleeve of solid insulating material surrounding the united conductor ends and bridging the interval between the cut-away ends of cable insulation, and a wrapping of a web of insulating material carrying a strip of metal encircling said sleeve and forming thereon an annulus o'f conducting material extending medially thereon but leaving the ends free of such conducting sleeve, the annulus of conducting material so formed being grounded, and a casing enclosing the whole and at its ends united to theY cutaway ends of the cable sheath and spaced at an interval from the ends of said sleeve.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

DONALD M. SIMONS. 

